Directions

Warm the milk in the microwave until it’s lukewarm and then stir in the yeast. Set aside for 10 minutes or until bubbly and frothy. In the pan of a bread machine, add the flour, salt, sugar, milk/yeast mixture, butter and egg yolk. Run the dough cycle for 15 minutes or until the dough has come together into a smooth, moist, (but not sticky) dough, adding more flour or liquid as necessary. Turn off the machine and leave the dough to rise for 1 to 1 ½ hours or until it has not quite doubled in size. This step can also be accomplished by hand or with a stand mixer.

Once the dough is ready, move it to a lightly floured work surface and snip it into 1 inch size pieces. Place the pieces of dough into a buttered 8x4 inch bread pan. Cover and let rise for 30 minutes. While the dough is rising, mix together the cream cheese and sugar, set aside. Mix together the flour, sugar and melted butter to create the crumb topping, set aside. Halve and pit the cherries, set aside.

When the dough is ready, drop small spoonfuls of the cream cheese mixture over the top of the dough. Place the cherries on top of the cream cheese and dough. Sprinkle the crumb topping over the entire top of the bread. Put the bread pan on top of a baking sheet (in case some of the toppings fall off during baking) and bake the bread in a 375oF oven for 40-45 minutes or until an instant read thermometer registers between 190o-200o. Let the bread cool for 5 minutes and then remove to a wire rack to finish cooling. Allow bread to cool completely before slicing.